Sermons, Articles, and Other Things

The occasion of the parable As we know, the time is the last week in the life of Jesus, a week in which he would die upon the cross. Yet Jesus obviously was not the only person involved in what happened during that week connected to the Passover. The religious and political leaders were involved, and indeed at this time were asking Jesus all kinds of questions. Barabbas and his fellows were planning a revolt against the Romans. The people too were involved, and we see their various reactions throughout the week. Both the religious leaders and the people in general are involved as Jesus tells this parable. The purpose of the parable While Matthew relates this parable as it affected the leaders mentioned by Jesus, Luke and Mark relate the parable to show that, while it was told to the people as well as the leaders, it is not about the people in the main. Rather, it is about the religious leaders, described by Jesus as tenants of the vineyard. So, from Luke’s point of view, the parable is...

Have you ever had an appointment to keep that was so important that it filled your mind with anticipation or apprehension? What did you do? Maybe you arranged for a friend to go with you, especially if the appointment was likely to be difficult. Perhaps your friend knew as much as you knew about the appointment or maybe the friend knew more about it than you did and also knew what you would need when the meeting took place. Something like that but at a much higher level is described in this verse from Hebrews. Jesus has an appointment to keep with the heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit goes with him as he makes his way there. One of the Trinity This verse reminds us that Jesus is one of the persons in the Trinity, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is often described in this way. For example, we can see the Trinity active at his incarnation, present at his baptism, and here in our verse at the death of Jesus. The Trinity is also mentioned in connection with his resurrect...

After telling the parable of the minas, Jesus led the disciples along the road to Jerusalem. The journey was uphill because Jericho is located below sea level and Jerusalem is above it, and the temperature would have been very warm. The distance between Jericho and Bethany is about fifteen miles and the scenery is barren. We are not told how long the journey took but it could have been done in a day. John tells us that Jesus arrived in Bethany six days before the Passover and stayed with Mary, Martha and Lazarus (John 12:1). He spent at least the Sabbath with them because John says that it was on the following day that the entry into the city took place. Luke does not mention this detail. Jesus would travel between Bethany and Jerusalem on each day of the final week of his life until Friday. Receiving the colt Bethany was a village close to Jerusalem, the distance being described as a Sabbath day’s journey (Acts 1:12), which was the distance the Jewish religious leaders allowed people ...

What is the most remarkable verse in the Bible? In one sense, this is a strange question to ask because there are many remarkable verses. Perhaps in answering the question, our minds go to John 3:16 and its wonderful description of the love of God the Father in giving his Son for the salvation of sinners. Or we might think of the shortest verse in the Bible which tells us that Jesus wept (John 11:35), giving us great insight into his fellow feeling with us in our sadnesses. Or we might wonder if the saying of Jesus on the cross about him being forsaken by his Father is the most profound, given that it is exceedingly difficult for even the best of expositors to explain what he meant. The list of such verses would be long, but among them, I would say, should be John 15:26: ‘But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.’ Why would that be so? For a start, Jesus mentions each person of t...

As we saw in a previous study, Jesus had restored the sight of Bartimaeus the beggar just before he entered new Jericho. No doubt, the travellers accompanying him were amazed at what they had seen him do. Of course, a real matter of interest for us in reading about it would be whether there was an anticipation in the crowd concerning what Jesus would do next. One thing that can be said of Jesus is that his next action was not predictable, and that remains true today. For example, when he calmed the sea, who would have thought that his next action would be to heal a demoniac? Luke gives a hint that something will happen when he says that Jesus was passing through the city. Otherwise he would have merely said that Jesus had left the city after helping Bartimaeus. Who was Zacchaeus? There is a statement in the Old Testament where God says he will bring one person from a city and two from a family and bring them to Zion (Jer. 3:14). That statement says that God at times is satisfied when o...

Paul begins this section of his letter by highlighting the importance of corporate prayer meetings. When he writes ‘first of all’, he is not as it were striking out items in a list. After all, he does not go on to say secondly or thirdly. Rather he is stressing the significance of such prayer in the life of a congregation. He may even be saying that prayer is the most essential aspect of a healthy church. Paul wanted Timothy to instruct the believers in Ephesus to pray in a global manner. I take his reference to all people to mean all nations rather than all individuals since that would fit with the context in which he mentions rulers and others in authority. If he meant all individuals, it would be unusual then to mention rulers specifically. Why distinct types of prayer? We see that in addition to global prayer, he also instructed Timothy to ensure that varied types of prayer would be offered. He mentions four kinds of prayer: supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings....

The time Isaiah tells us when this meeting took place, but he does not say why he was in the temple. Maybe he had gone there to pray or to offer a sacrifice. It was in the year when King Uzziah died. This does not mean that Uzziah had died before the vision took place. He could have died after Isaiah saw the vision. In 1:1 Isaiah says that he was a prophet in the reign of Uzziah, and perhaps those years of his ministry are described in chapters one to five of his prophecy. So this vision could have been divine preparation for the sovereign’s death, which the Lord knew would happen that year, rather than a reaction. Uzziah became king when he was sixteen and he reigned for fifty-two years, first as a teenager and then as an adult, perhaps initially as a joint-ruler with his father. For most of his reign, he pleased the Lord, although he did commit a sin that had drastic consequences for him. In that sense, Uzziah is a reminder that it is not enough to start well but to keep on fearing G...